Chris Allen
Chris "Dr. Yo-Yo" Allen is a retired yo-yo performer, event organizer and online yo-yo personality. Chris has been yo-yoing since the mid-80s and received his nickname of Dr. Yo-Yo in the late 90s while working at a toy store. Kids would bring him broken yo-yos and he would fix them for free (string, bearing, axle, etc). Kids started calling him Dr. Yo-Yo and the name stuck. Chris went on to managed a yo-yo in Irvine California called YoYo Connection and performed with the SoCal division of Team High Performance. In 2000 Chris later took over as lead of a yo-yo club Stockton called Team T.O.Y.S (The Order of Yo - Stockton). In 2002 Chris assisted with the setup a Yo-Yo Museum in Lodi in 2002. From 2002- 2008, Chris served in the US Air Force and took a break from yo-yoing. In 2007 Chris founded YoYoSkills.com, a news aggregate site that published product reviews, photographs, yo-yo videos and yo-yo news. In 2015 Chris transferred ownership of YoYoSkills.com to YoYoSam.com who is the current owner of the brand and domain. In 2009 Chris took over the management and event planning for the California State Yo-Yo Championship, setting the modern day contest precedent for large cash prizes at $1000. The California State Yo-Yo Championship would also set the standards for live multi-cam video streaming (2010), live stream commentary (2010), and division prelims held simultaneously off stage as division finals. During this time Chris was also on the AYYA Board of Directors. In 2010, Chris was awarded the National Achievement Award by the National Yo-Yo Museum for his hard work in both online yo-yo media and yo-yo contest reform. In 2011, Chris was awarded a world record for "Worlds Largest Handheld Yo-Yo" by RecordSetters after publishing the video to youtube. In 2012, Chris invented a yo-yo themed card game called "Throw" which met minor success. Chris also founded Operation: Green Triangle after the global yo-yo community uncovered misappropriation of charitable funds by Vs Newton's founder Heath Vizier. Operation: Green Triangle raised $3000 for Cancer relief and research. In 2012 Chris approached the owners of the remaining operators at YoYoNation which had shut down in 2011, and took ownership of the forum to preserve years of historical threads and data until 2016 when it was handed off to JD Steele. In 2013 Chris handed off the California State Yo-Yo Championship back to the NYYL in order to focus more on his family. In 2014 Chris took over as Brand Manager for MonkeyfingeR Design. Chris has changed the marketing direction of MFD and pushed for the competitive modernization of the MFD designs, redesigning the classic Gelada into the Gelada 2, and designing the Caesar and later the Caesar Helium. Chris stepped down from MonkeyfingeR Design in 2017 but still works with the brand owners on yo-yo designs. Achievements * YoYoSkills Founder / Editor * YoYoExpert Forum Administrator * YoYoNation Forum Administrator * AYYA Board of Directors Member * California State Yo-Yo Championship Event Organizer 2009 - 2013 * National Yo-Yo League Merit Award 2010 * Throw - The Yo-Yo Card Game - Inventor External link Dr Yo-Yo's Twitter Category:People